Happy Janmashtami

Krishna Janmashtami, falls on the 8th day of the dark half of the month of Bhadrapad (August-September), signifying the birth of Lord Krishna, the eternal ocean of Cosmic Love. Krishna represents Brahman or God consciousnesses. Krishna avatar is synonymous with self-realization. Normally desires and negative thoughts mask our consciousness with ignorance. The journey to self-realization involves removal or shedding of this ignorance which can only be done by the eight spiritual principles as described in the Ashtang Yoga Sutras by Rishi Patanjali. These are as follows:

Yama (self control)

Niyama (self-discipline),

Asana (bodily postures)

Pranayam (control of breath)

Pratyahara (Focused Inwards),

Dharana (Single pointedness)

Dhyana (contemplation)

Samadhi (self-realization).

Every aspect coinciding with the birth of the great Lord Krishna has a deeply embedded meaning with our body, mind & soul. Ignorance is symbolized by a “PRISON”, which represents darkness; narrow-minded approach (small entry gate to the prison) and limitedness to everything (small room). The chain in the prison means the bondages to lust, greed, desires and ego. Birth of Krishna in the prison means ‘Self-realization out of ignorance’. It can only be acquired by adhering to the eight principles of Ashtang Yoga with Tapas (Abhyas) or hard work. Krishna was born as the eighth child of Devaki, which symbolizes tapas of eight limbs of yoga. The self-realization can only occur after the seven chakras are successfully negotiated and the mind gets purified in the process. In the state of Samadhi, there is spontaneous birth of the self. In this state (Sama = equal; dhi – intelligence) one controls equality and balances oneself between the good and the bad. The significance is that, as Krishna was born, the chains that bound his father fell off; the doors that had been bolted flew open and the prison guards immediately went into sleep. And his father, Vasudev, took Krishna and went to Gokul, by placing Krishna in a basket and walking across the Yamuna river, where at the same time Yashodha, consort of Nanda, had given birth to a female child. The ‘Chains’ here symbolizes the bondage to the external world through the five senses. A self realized person is free of these bondages. The “Opening of prison gates” symbolizes control over lust, desire, greed and attachments. “Sleeping of the guards” symbolizes, that in the state of self-realization, one is totally cut off from the outer world. Everything else perishes and only oneness exists. The thunderstorm, the rain, and the fire, all represent the internal turmoil of uncontrolled desires and hatred. The moment Krishna’s feet touched the turbulent waters, everything settles. The spiritual lesson is that by turning inwards and towards one’s pure consciousness, any turbulent state of mind can be controlled. While acquiring all this, one must be able to control the ego and the egocentric desires. Controlling the ego is depicted as a snake sitting over the basket and guarding Lord Krishna who is the epitome of joy, the quintessence of simplicity and the very source of pure love. Our mind is slippery like butter and the symbolic meaning of Krishna stealing butter, denotes Lord Krishna entering into our minds, and stealing away all the negative elements, leaving us with pure Krishna consciousness, which is the eternal joy and cosmic bliss, which we all yearn to experience for births together. Inner joy sprouts in us when the senses are directed inwards. Lord Krishna is the ocean of eternal bliss, his soul-stirring Leelas, which are considered to be wonder of wonders, symbolizes the waves of the ocean. The enchanting music of his flute captivates the minds of his devotees. His unequalled and unsurpassed wealth of beauty amazes the animate and the inanimate beings. He adorns his friends with his incomparable love. Devotion is the only means of attaining Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna, through his teachings of the ancient Science of Kriya yoga, led Arjuna from the front and guided him through all the travails on the battle of Kurukshetra. Janmashtami holds high significance in the life of Kriyayogi’s and Sadhaks who are practitioners, of this pious path of Spiritual awakening. Kriya yoga is a bold and powerful path for all aspiring individuals irrespective of their caste, creed or religious orientation . Kriya yoga is the fastest and powerful path to break free from the throes of negativity and merge yourself with universal consciousness, because it is a bold path of Karma yoga. Krishna epitomizes Bhakti and pure love, anything associated with Krishna has tremendous affinity towards Unconditional Love and happiness, since Krishna is the ruler of the heart chakra, the seat of Unconditional Love. When a sadhak transcends the barriers of the body consciousness and merges with the Cosmic consciousness, he experiences this divine love, the Krishna consciousness. Coinciding with Krishna Janmashtami is the most popular of games which was played by the little and natkhat Kanhaiya, “DAHI HANDI”. Dahi Handi though portrays the playful and adoringly mischievous attitude of Krishna; it actually carries a profound and deep meaning behind it. The Handi here, represents the ego or the sense of the body & mind, that dangles in the grasp of Society and relationships. The butter or Dahi which forms the content is embodied as the essence, or the being. The Lord breaks the Handi, or the ego to release the accumulated contents, from the bindings of the Sansara. His eagerness to savor it reveals the bliss, which one enjoys on realizing the true essence or the true self. It can also be taken as the Lord’s instruction to break the body mind complex, which is portrayed as the Handi to attain true bliss. However, to break the illusion of the body & mind is not an easy task, as one will have to focus steadfastly on realizing the ultimate, with true devotion or bhakti ras. Distractions in and around one’s surroundings, disturbs one from attaining the eternal truth. However single pointed focus and devotion to the Lord will ultimately lead one to the ultimate goal.

I bless all of humanity with the happiness and joy of experiencing the Krishna consciousness, and urge all of humanity , to tide over all the evils ,and the demons in oneself and the society, by uniting everyone under the Govardhan parvat of “Unconditional Love & Unconditional Forgiveness”. I bless all of humanity to invoke the Krishna in you, and be the harbinger of Love and happiness everywhere. Remember, Krishna consciousness can be easily awakened, but only with pure faith, bhakti, and Love, never by intellectual analysis.

So come one, come all,

Rejoice, celebrate, be happy and make others happy. Spread Love ,Harmony, Peace everywhere ,let us unitedly be a strong force to salvage negativity and unite the world with the chain of LOVE.

Shri Krishnam Sharanam Ma ma

Love& Blessings,

Sadguru Mangeshda

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34 thoughts on “Happy Janmashtami”

Thank you Sadguruji for such a wonderful and enchanting masterpiece article, explaining the significance and importance of Krishna Janmashtami.. So many years,we have been celebrating this day,with half baked knowledge,and correspondingly half the Happiness.but each aspect of Lord Krishna has been so beautifully explained.it changes our outlook towards the festivity and the backdrop of the birth of the greatest loveable,adorable God,amongst the Hindu Trinity..
Thank you very much for this fantastic article..placing a humble request unto thy Holy feet,may all of mankind benefit more and more from thy priceless pearls of wisdom, and may we get blessed with more such eye-openers in life..
This Krishna Janmashtami, is a huge delight to us,thanks to thy beautiful article,depicting the lives&time of the master of Unconditional Love.the greatest master of the pious Kriyayoga lineage.
Jai Shri Krishna.
Jai Jai Gurudev.

Hari Om Sadguruji Koti Koti Pranam thank u so much for this wonderful message on this auspicious day of Gokul Asthami. Only your loving guidance gives us the insight n shows us the right path for a better living.

Hari Om Sadguruji ! Thank you for an incredibly informative article on the occasion of Gokulashtami. There is immense wisdom in your teachings that all of humanity can learn from. Salutations at your feet !

Hari Om Guruji! Its a wonderful, informative and classic blog. Lord Krishna…. so much to imbibe from His stories and His character! And You have beautifully narrated it. Thank You so much.
We are also eagerly awaiting Your discourse in the evening in Mumbai. Its a super day with Teachers’ Day & Janmashtami falling on the same day. And I am sure the Janmashtami Celebrations will be just fantabulous and You will bring to the fore many more unknown facets of Lord Krishna in the evening!

Hari Om Sadguruji. Sashtanga Pranams. Thanks for this very beautiful and simple article explaining the various stages and obstacles one faces on the path towards Self-Realization. A marvelous way of demystifying the epics we always hear since childhood making it more practical which we can relate to in our everyday lives. Thank you for bestowing on us – Kriya Yoga – which really enriches the Krishna within You. Our intellect is indeed very small to not understand the depths of the epics, one does need Balanced Intelligence along with Bhakti ras, to be able to see the depth in every thing and understand the significance.

My hundreds of gratitude to Parampujya Sadguru for this divine msg . The way Sadguru has explained the true sense of Krishna on today’s Janmashtami is really awakening of both ,our own mind towards self love n towards self barriers to attain the pure form unconditional love .so let’s find a real Krishna within us through powerful kriya yoga n kind blessings of our Sadguru .

ari Om Sadguruji…Thank you for this wonderful divine message stated in simple words the significance of Janmashtami , the birth of Lord Krishna and Kriya yoga the bold path, to embark on ones spiritual journey.

Superbly explained – With due Bhakthi and mere faith, if one surrenders themselves to the UNCONDITIONAL love. (KRISHNA), almighty will lead one to the eternal bliss… Thank you Sadguruji for selecting us to travel in this divine path…

Hari Om Sadguruji
Koti pranaams.
Excellent article, explaining the life of Shri Krishna and its deeper meaning.
This is real knowledge, which you have imparted to us on this pious day when Janmashtami and Teachers day coincide.

Awesome blog by Sadguruji. Never visualized Sri Krishna’s birth in prison and his childhood antics as the breaking of materialistic bondages, ultimately leading to Samadhi and Self-realization. Thank you, Sadguruji for a very inspiring and informative article.

Divine nectar from our Vasudeva Sadguru Mangeshda. Profound explanation of Lord Krishna. Thank you for awakening and guiding us to understand Spiritual Science through the path of Kriya Yoga. Seek your blessings to imbibe Krishna Consciousness in our heart and merge with the eternity.
Happy Janmashtami🙏

Koti Pranams at your Lotus Feet, Sadguruji. Only a true Sadguru like You can dispel our ignorance and lead us towards Krishna consciousness. Thank You for the very informative article on Lord Krishna. It is a totally new and different viewpoint of Janmashtami. Just reading it has given me a lot of joy and peace. Pranams Sadguruji once again.

Thanks for the wonderful explanation of the all pervasive ,powerful Sri Krishna phenomenon.The narration is enlightening and the analogy of the inanimate things like prison ,chain etc with the inborn negative qualities of human beings is very apt and brilliant and never heard off before.The marvelous description of Janmashtami will leave an everlasting impression in the minds of the readers.The article is so captivating that it will drown the readers in the ocean of spirituality.

Hari Om. Thank you very much for explaining the various aspects of the Krishna Consciousness in a very simple and lucid way. Let “the epitome of joy, the quintessence of simplicity and the very source of pure love” make the humanity free from all negative forces for a better world for all of us to live in.

Thank you, Sadguruji, for the knowledge that you have imparted by way of this article! One has to read it again and again to truly understand and imbibe the treasure of knowledge contained here. Under your guidance and with our regualar Sadhna on the path of Kriya Yog, we aspire to break our handi of ego!

Greetings Sadguruji! Thank You for giving us the gift of Your write ups. In this write up You have translated to us the metaphoric meaning behind the events of Lord Krishna’s life. We all know Krishna Leela and we have marveled at the mythological stories, but from this blog I have understood the metaphor behind those events and what each of them symbolize. You have urged us to break the ego, to come out of the shackles of desire & negativity & merge into the ocean of Love & I want to follow this! The Ancient Science of Kriya Yoga is indeed so valuable. Words are not enough for me to express my feelings of Gratitude to You. I want to Thank You Sadguruji and promise You that I will aspire to be a better human being & a better student. Happy Janmashtami! 🙂

Wow, its a readers treat, such a indept explanation of the great festival of Janamasthami. I read it multiple times and it gave a new message to me every time I read it.Request to give the world a book with your pearls of wisdom ,it will put light on many seekers like me.Thank-you for imparting knowledge. Salutations…

Thank you for such an informative and detailed blog on Janmashtami. It really helped me understand true meaning and essence of this pious day. It is astonishing to know how each and every instance in life of Lord Krishna, right from his birth teaches one different lessons of life. A marvellous write up which relates various incidents of mythology with our real world. Indeed a masterpiece. Salutations at the lotus feet of Sadguruji for your pearls of wisdom you share on every occasion which help us understand the true meaning of celebration.

Hariom Sadguruji,
Krishna Consciousness while being subject to multiple understanding from an individual point of view has been explained in such a way in this informative article that one understands the real essence and can relate to one-self.
The chronology of the entire Krishna avatar and its true meaning (mythologically/literaly/practically) which is applicable right till day makes one realise the true Krishna consciousness and understands it’s meaning in one’s life.
Thanks you for sharing the pearls of wisdom.

Hari Om Sadguruji!
Thank you for giving us an insight on the significance of the festival and enlightening us with your pearls of wisdom. Please keep posting such informative blogs.Thoroughly enjoyed reading this beautifully explained article which made an interesting read.